pavel fuks
<div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="font-size: medium;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">=</span></p><div style="font-size: medium;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 8 23</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">a </font><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">seasoned Federal Bureau of Investigation counterintelligence officer told the United States Senate Judiciary Committee that he was ordered by his superiors to "stop investigating Rudy Giuliani and to cut off contact with any sources who reported on corruption by associates of former President Donald Trump,"</span></span><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"> according to a</span><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"> </span><a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23903968/wed-redact.pdf" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">whistleblower complaint</a><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">that was</span><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"> </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-whistleblower-senate-judiciary-russia-giuliani-leak-trump-allies-fuks-biden-2023-8" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">exclusively obtained</a><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">by</span><b><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Business Insider</span></b><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">'s Mattathias Schwartz.</span></div><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">"The agent, who served 14 years as a special agent for the bureau, including a long stint in <b>Russia-focussed counter-intelligence</b>, claims in a 22-page statement that his bosses interfered with his work in 'a highly suspicious suppression of investigations and intelligence-gathering' aimed at <b>protecting 'certain politically active figures and possibly also FBI agents' who were connected to Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs</b>," Schwartz writes. "Those figures, the statement claims, explicitly included 'anyone in the [Trump] White House and any former or current associates of President Trump.'"</span></p><div id="story_page_incontent_p2_target" style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-5155643920455169" data-ad-slot="6339868799" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration-line: none; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 20px; display: block;" /></div><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Schwartz explains that the employee's account was "apparently leaked and posted in mid-July to a Substack newsletter. <em>Insider</em> has independently obtained a copy of the complaint and verified its authenticity, but has not corroborated all of its claims."</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><strong>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/theyre-coming-for-everyone/" target="self" title="view post: 'They’re coming for everyone': Looming Georgia indictments send Trump allies running for cover" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">'They’re coming for everyone': Looming Georgia indictments send Trump allies running for cover</a></strong><a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/1438263772?adppopup=true" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" /><a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/1438263742?adppopup=true" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" /></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">The unnamed individual said in an interview with Insider that he was motivated by the desire to "policymakers accountable, whether they're on the left or the right." <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-whistleblower-senate-judiciary-russia-giuliani-leak-trump-allies-fuks-biden-2023-8" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">According to Schwartz</a>, the whistleblower felt the FBI was at "a decision point" and wondered, "Are we going to do public corruption or not?"</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Schwartz continues, "The whistleblower told Insider that he was finally ordered to stop investigating Giuliani and the rest of the Trump White House in August 2022, after months of what he says <b>were persistent efforts to frustrate his work, </b>at a meeting with three FBI supervisors at a bureau field office. Insider was able to confirm the agent's account of the meeting with a second source with knowledge of what took place."</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Schwartz notes that "the directions he received included a strict prohibition on filing intelligence reports relating to Giuliani or any other Trump associate" during an August 2022 meeting where he was fed "performance issues and concerns" despite having "eight consecutive years of "excellent" or "outstanding" work.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"In one case, the statement says, the agent </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">developed information from confidential informants that Giuliani had allegedly done paid work for Pavel Fuks, a Ukrainian oligarch and 'asset of the Russian intelligence services.'</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> (That charge was <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/putin-russia-ukraine-invasion-nazi-operation-1325817/" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">previously reported</a> by Rolling Stone.) The whistleblower also looked into claims that Giuliani had fraudulently raised money from investors to produce a never-completed film about Joe Biden in the months before the 2020 election," <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-whistleblower-senate-judiciary-russia-giuliani-leak-trump-allies-fuks-biden-2023-8" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Schwartz explains</a>. "The agent's reporting on Giuliani wasn't received well in the bureau's New York field office</span>, his statement says. 'In the midst of my reporting involving Giuliani, which had previously been identified by my supervisor as 'high impact,' my management told me they received a call from a supervisor in [the New York field office], who they did not identify,' the statement says. 'This supervisor had taken issue with my reporting.'"</p><div style="font-size: medium;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/09/rudy-giuliani-has-a-long-shady-history-with-ukraine/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/09/rudy-giuliani-has-a-long-shady-history-with-ukraine/</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mojo</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In </font><span style="font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;">March 2018, Rudy Giuliani</span><span style="font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"> </span><a href="http://tgsv.net/triglobal-strategic-ventures-announces-successful-trip-for-city-of-kharkiv-representatives-to-new-york-city/" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">met</a><span style="font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;">in Manhattan with a delegation of lawmakers from Kharkiv, a city of 1.4 million in eastern Ukraine. Giuliani, who joined President Donald Trump’s legal team a few weeks later, was at this gathering because, Giuliani says, his security firm</span><span style="font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"> </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rudy-giulianis-corrupt-oligarch-ukraine-2018-11" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">agreed</a><span style="font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;">in 2017 to help the city improve its emergency services and seek foreign investment.</span></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;">
</span></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But the deal had a murkier element. Giuliani later <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/01/ukrainian-oligarch-pavel-fuks-scrutinized-by-robert-mueller-was-rudy-giuliani-client/" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">conceded</a> that he wasn’t just working for Kharkiv and that for at least some of the work he was paid by<b> Pavel Fuks</b>, a Kharkiv-born business executive who became a prominent real estate developer in Moscow in the 2000s and who has said that he negotiated directly with Trump between 2004 and 2010 about building a Trump-branded<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"> </span>tower in Moscow. Fuks was one of several Ukrainians with Russian ties whose attendance at Trump’s presidential inauguration was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/us/politics/ukraine-donald-trump-inauguration.html" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">investigated</a> by former special counsel Robert Mueller.</span> So at the start of Trump’s presidency, Giuliani was hobnobbing with at least one Ukrainian player who would be tainted by scandal. </p><div class="incontent-promo" id="incontent_promo_1" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: rgb(242, 243, 239); position: relative; left: -358.156px; height: auto; width: 100vw; margin-bottom: 1rem; clear: both; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"><section id="mj-incontent-ad-widget-4" class="widget mj-incontent-ad-widget" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="incontent-ad-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 1300px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;" /></section></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/giuliani-pursued-shadow-ukraine-agenda-as-key-foreign-policy-officials-were-sidelined/2019/09/24/ee18aaec-deec-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">exploded</a> into public view this month, with the revelation that Trump pressured the country’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to work with Giuliani and Attorney General <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/25/william-barr-ukraine-memo-1512255" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">William Barr</a> to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and information to discredit Mueller’s probe. A complaint filed by an intelligence community whistleblower that triggered this new Trump scandal depicted Giuliani as a Trump henchman prowling Ukraine for negative material Trump could use against Biden. But the former New York mayor’s involvement in Ukraine and other former Soviet bloc countries has been more extensive and even more sketchy than these disclosures indicate.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;">The New York meeting and an earlier trip Giuliani trip took to Kharkiv in November 2017 were arranged by TriGlobal Strategic Ventures, the firm <a href="http://tgsv.net/" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">says</a> on its website. TriGlobal, which claims to have offices in New York, Moscow, and Kiev, sells itself as an international business consultancy that does public relations work for clients in Russia and Ukraine. The firm also brags that it has worked with Giuliani since 2004, <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-rudy-giuliani-mystery-trips-to-russia-armenia-and-ukraine" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">arranging</a> trips for him to former Soviet states. Last October, Giuliani took a break from his work representing Trump to <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/rudy-giuliani-armenia-speech-russia-3ef1a9cdff8e/" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">speak</a> about cybersecurity at a conference <b>TriGlobal organized in Armenia to promote a Russia-led economic bloc, the Eurasian Economic Union</b>. Giuliani appeared at the event alongside a <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Russian official, Sergey Glazyev, who was <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/17/fact-sheet-ukraine-related-sanctions" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">sanctioned</a> in March 2014 for his role in the annexation of Crimea</b> and who has been <a href="https://www.jpost.com/International/Putin-adviser-denies-antisemitic-conspiracy-about-Ukraines-new-president-589231" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">accused</a> of <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/05/07/putin-aide-says-new-ukraine-leader-could-populate-war-torn-region-with-jews-a65509" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">advancing</a> anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Ukraine, an accusation he’s denied. Giuliani was reportedly invited to a conference by Russian Armenian multimillionaire Ara Abramyan, a member of TriGlobal’s board, who <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-rudy-giuliani-mystery-trips-to-russia-armenia-and-ukraine" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">reportedly</a> suggested at the time that he expected Giuliani to deliver a message for him to Trump.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On Friday, the <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Washington Post</em> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/giuliani-set-to-make-paid-appearance-next-week-at-kremlin-backed-conference/2019/09/27/a15ab242-e133-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">reported</a> that Giuliani planned to participate in a panel led by Glazyev at the same conference in Armenia this year. Giuliani canceled his plans to attend after the <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Post</em>‘s report. He said he decided not to attend after learning that Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to go. “If Putin’s going it’s easy,” he said in a text.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;">These gigs form part of Giuliani’s lucrative post-mayoral career as a roving international security consultant and high-priced lawyer. That career has continued, even after Trump brought Giuliani onto his personal legal team with a mandate to take a combative approach against Mueller’s investigation. Giuliani provides not only pro-bono legal assistance for Trump, but, he says, political advice, and reportedly he acts as somewhat of a personal emissary for the president. All the while, Giuliani has shrugged off questions of whether clients, including foreign interests, are paying him and his firm as he functions as Trump’s consigliere. And he has refused to comprehensively identify his clients. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He claims that he does not need to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act—which would require him to disclose details of his work for overseas clients—because he does no lobbying in the United States for foreign entities and instead merely provides security advice to any client he has abroad.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>But at least one former client disputes Giuliani’s claims about his work.</b> “I would call him the lobbyist for Kharkiv and Ukraine—this is stated in the contract,” Fuks <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/30/us/politics/ukraine-giuliani-foreign-work.html" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">told</a> the <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">New York Times</em> in March. “It is very important for me that such person as Giuliani tells people that we are a good country, that people can do business with us. That’s what we would like to bring to America’s leaders.” Neither Giuliani nor Fuks has made their contract public. Giuliani has declined to say what he and his firm were paid for the work.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Seven Senate Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), <a href="https://www.tomudall.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FARA%20Letter%20DOJ.pdf" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">pressed</a> the Justice Department this week to investigate whether Giuliani is violating foreign lobbying law. “Like any other American, Mr. Giuliani has legal obligations to report his work on behalf of foreign clients,” they wrote, “and the Department of Justice should not give him preferential treatment or exempt him from his obligation just because he is the President’s personal attorney.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Giuliani conducted other business in Ukraine while working for Kharkiv and Fuks. In June 2017, Giuliani traveled to Kiev where he reportedly <a href="https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/ele_schiff_cummings_letter_to_sec_pompeo_on_ukraine.pdf" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">met with</a> then-President Petro<b> Poroshenko, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko</b>, and other government officials.</span> Giuliani also <a href="https://www.pinchukfund.org/en/news/20207/" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">spoke</a> on “democracy” and the “rule of law” at a conference organized by the foundation of Ukrainian metals magnate, Victor Pinchuk—an oligarch whose 2016 payment of $150,000 to Trump’s charitable foundation drew <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/us/politics/trump-mueller-ukraine-victor-pinchuk.html" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">scrutiny</a> from Mueller. Giuliani, who in 2006 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/us/politics/17candidates.html?module=inline" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">reported</a> receiving up to $200,000 per <a href="https://www.wsb.com/speakers/rudy-giuliani" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">speech</a>, has declined to say how much he he was paid for that presentation. It’s unclear if these activities had any connection to Giuliani’s deal with Fuks and Kharkiv.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In a text message Thursday, Giuliani said his work in Ukraine in 2017 was unrelated to his recently revealed activity. “My business in Ukraine ended in Dec. 2017,” he wrote. But Giuliani’s involvement in the country continued after he became Trump’s lawyer in April 2018.</span></p><div class="incontent-promo" id="incontent_promo_3" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: rgb(242, 243, 239); position: relative; left: -358.156px; height: auto; width: 100vw; margin-bottom: 1rem; clear: both; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"><section id="mj-incontent-ad-widget-11" class="widget mj-incontent-ad-widget" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="incontent-ad-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 1300px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;" /></section></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">In May 2018, Ukrainian officials stopped investigating payments to Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort and dropped an offer to assist with Mueller’s prosecution of him.</span> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Ukrainian officials <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/world/europe/ukraine-mueller-manafort-missiles.html" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">told</a> the <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">New York Times</em> they feared helping Mueller would anger Trump, potentially complicating their purchase from the United States of antitank weapons aimed at deterring Russian aggression. This week Giuliani insisted in a text message to me that he did “not know anything about” that move.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>At some point in 2018—the exact date is unclear—Giuliani began working on Ukraine-related matters with<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> </span>two Soviet-born American business executives, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. </b>Giuliani has <a href="https://twitter.com/RudyGiuliani/status/1129761193755910144?s=20" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">said</a> they’re his clients, though his work for them appears indistinguishable from his efforts on Trump’s behalf. In a text message on Monday, Giuliani declined to comment on this work, citing attorney-client privilege. Parnas and Fruman did not respond to inquiries.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>According to a joint <a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/meet-the-florida-duo-helping-giuliani-dig-dirt-for-trump-in-ukraine" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">investigation</a> by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">BuzzFeed News</em>, it was Parnas and Fruman who first <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mikesallah/rudy-giuliani-ukraine-trump-parnas-fruman" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">encouraged</a> Giuliani’s effort to dig up dirt on Biden</b>. Both Parnas and Fruman, who live in South Florida, became big GOP donors in 2018, giving at least $576,500 in combined donations over several months. They used the resulting access to powerful Republican figures to promote a plan to sell American liquified gas to Ukraine. In May 2018, the duo dined with the president at the Trump International Hotel and had breakfast in Beverly Hills with Donald Trump Jr. and Tommy Hicks Jr., who later became co-chair of the Republican National Committee, according Facebook posts by Parnas, which he later deleted. It is unclear if Giuliani was helped connect them with Trump.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to the OCCRP/<em style="box-sizing: inherit;">BuzzFeed News</em> report, Parnas and Fruman organized a late 2018 Skype call between Giuliani and <b>Viktor Shokin</b>, the prosecutor whose firing was pushed by Biden and many European diplomats in 2016.</span> Shokin was ousted for blocking anti-corruption probes, but Giuliani and Trump have asserted that Biden sought Shokin’s dismissal to protect his son, Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, from investigation. There is no evidence to support that claim.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"><b>But Shokin, not surprisingly, was apparently eager to help smear Biden.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Parnas claims that he and Fruman put Giuliani in touch with Shokin’s replacement, Yuriy Lutsenko, late last year. Giuliani and Lutsenko met in New York in January 2018 and in Poland in February, according to the OCCRP/<em style="box-sizing: inherit;">BuzzFeed News</em> report. Giuliani <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-gambit-for-trump-giuliani-engaged-parade-of-ukrainian-prosecutors/2019/09/26/4d3dc72e-e072-11e9-8fd3-d943b4ed57e0_story.html" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">told</a> the <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Washington Post</em> that he has met with five current and former Ukrainian prosecutors overall, including Shokin and Lutsenko, since last year. </span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"><b>Shortly after their get-togethers, Lutsenko and Giuliani began pushing allegations in the US media about Biden and claiming Ukrainian officials interfered in the 2016 election to help the Hillary Clinton campaign. </b>Many of these claims ended up in articles written by <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Hill</em> opinion writer John Solomon, whose reports were amplified by Fox News and other conservative media and by Trump—but his reports have largely been<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-a-conservative-columnist-helped-push-a-flawed-ukraine-narrative/2019/09/26/1654026e-dee7-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">debunked</a><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">.</em> Ukrainian anti-corruption activists <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/05/10/rumors-joe-biden-scandal-ukraine-absolute-nonsense-reformer-says/" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">claim</a> Shokin and Lutsenko were promoting phony accusations, and Lutsenko later <a href="https://thebabel.net/texts/28898-genprokuror-yuriy-lucenko-ne-idet-v-otstavku-vot-chto-on-rasskazal-nam-o-konfliktah-s-poslom-ssha-i-glavoy-nabu-dele-burisma-plenkah-rozenblata-i-istochnikah-korrupcii-bolshoe-intervyu" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">withdrew</a> <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-16/ukraine-prosecutor-says-no-evidence-of-wrongdoing-by-bidens" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">many</a> of his claims. Daria Kaleniuk, the head of a Ukrainian anti-corruption group, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/09/22/reporters-stop-helping-donald-trump-spread-lies-joe-biden-ukraine/" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">contends</a> that Lutsenko issued allegations to please Trump in a bid to keep his job. </span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I was investigating, going back to last year, complaints that the Ukrainian people, several people in Ukraine, knew about a tremendous amount of collusion between Ukrainian officials, and Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic National Committee,” Giuliani <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/20/trump-has-been-openly-trying-leverage-ukraine-his-political-benefit-months/" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">claimed</a> last week on CNN. These<b> accusations promoted by Giuliani have been embraced by Trump’s Justice Department and Attorney General William Barr.</b></span><b> On Wednesday, the Justice Department said that a probe initiated by Barr and run by a US attorney, John Durham, is “exploring the extent to which a number of countries, including Ukraine, played a role in the counterintelligence investigation directed at the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.” </b>(The nature of this probe is unclear. Ukraine was not involved in the initiation of the FBI’s investigation of the Russian attack on the 2016 election and the interactions between the Trump campaign and Russia.) </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to the <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Washington Post</em>, since Zelensky took office in May, Giuliani has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/giuliani-pursued-shadow-ukraine-agenda-as-key-foreign-policy-officials-were-sidelined/2019/09/24/ee18aaec-deec-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html?wpisrc=al_news__alert-national--alert-world--alert-politics&wpmk=1" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">sidelined</a> the State Department and helped force the firing of the US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, whom he accused, seemingly without evidence, of “collusion” and of “working for” liberal financier George Soros. Trump’s request that Zelensky help Giuliani unearth negative information on Biden has received lots of attention. Zelensky agreeing to do so has received less notice. According to the whistleblower’s complaint, Giuliani met with a Zelenksy adviser on August 2 in Madrid to follow up on “cases” discussed in the July 25 phone call.</span></p><div class="incontent-promo" id="incontent_promo_5" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: rgb(242, 243, 239); position: relative; left: -358.156px; height: auto; width: 100vw; margin-bottom: 1rem; clear: both; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px;"><section id="mj-incontent-ad-widget-10" class="widget mj-incontent-ad-widget" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="incontent-ad-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 1300px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;" /></section></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Giuliani’s role, particularly his work in Ukraine in 2017 and 2018, has not been fully explained. The whistleblower <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6430345/20190812-Whistleblower-Complaint-Unclass.pdf" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">complaint</a> alleges that Giuliani has been “a central figure” in Trump’s covert effort to use his power to press Ukraine to help tilt the 2020 election in his favor. An unnamed US official quoted by the <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Post</em> made a similar claim: “<b>Rudy—he did all of this,” the official <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/giuliani-pursued-shadow-ukraine-agenda-as-key-foreign-policy-officials-were-sidelined/2019/09/24/ee18aaec-deec-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">said</a>. “This shitshow that we’re in—it’s him injecting himself into the process.”</b></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 19px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Asked about his work in Ukraine, Giuliani, in a series of texts, called the issue “bull distraction.” Not enough is publicly known yet to back up Giuliani’s this-is-a-distraction defense, or to assess whether Giuliani’s actions in Ukraine will ultimately help Trump or cause him more difficulty in a scandal that has led to an impeachment inquiry. </p><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div>